Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An ornamental dot traditionally worn by Hindu women in the middle of the forehead or between the eyebrows, made of colored sandalwood paste, kohl, or other pigment and having varying religious and social significance, as in indicating marital status.
  • noun A small body adornment, often a colored or jeweled sticker, worn on various parts of the face and body.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The “holy dot” traditionally worn on the forehead of married Hindu women.
  • noun Makeup or jewellery worn in imitation of such a dot.
  • noun Australia, slang A tiny, sharp-needled seed often found on the ground in the bush.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Hindi bindī, from Middle Indic biṃdu, drop, spot, from Sanskrit binduḥ; perhaps akin to induḥ, drop.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Sanskrit

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word bindi.

Examples

  • In a sermon in Banaras (Varanasi), he symbolised it by giving her the mark of the bindu (O, i.e. a drop or a dot in form of a circle) now called bindi, to married woman.

    Bindi 2007

  • It's a super summer crop and grows best where it's sultry -- Africa, India (where it's known as bindi, or lady fingers), the Middle East, Turkey and Greece (where they all call it bamia) the Caribbean, South America -- and in the American South.

    Ellen Kanner: Meatless Monday: Okra and Other Native Americans 2010

  • It's a super summer crop and grows best where it's sultry -- Africa, India (where it's known as bindi, or lady fingers), the Middle East, Turkey and Greece (where they all call it bamia) the Caribbean, South America -- and in the American South.

    Ellen Kanner: Meatless Monday: Okra and Other Native Americans 2010

  • January 2009, she sported a "bindi" (vermillion mark on forehead) during her trip to India when she also visited Taj Mahal with husband Danny Moder.

    NZ On Screen 2010

  • Well, first and foremost I want to let everyone know that she is not wearing a 'bindi' or a

    Screen News 2009

  • Well, first and foremost I want to let everyone know that she is not wearing a 'bindi' or a

    unknown title 2009

  • 'bindi' on her recent trip to the Taj Mahal in Agra.

    dailyindia.com News Feed 2009

  • 'bindi' on her recent trip to the Taj Mahal in Agra.

    dailyindia.com News Feed 2009

  • In India, We play stick the bindi on the bollywood star.

    party planner 2009

  • Charlie and Swanson were talking to that group of serious-looking men and the woman—was she actually wearing a bindi?

    Three Stages of Amazement Carol Edgarian 2011

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • "a small colored ornamental dot worn in the middle of a woman's forehead, esp. Hindu and sometimes Sikh" - Webster's New Millennium Dictionary.

    So that's what it's called.

    February 19, 2008

  • Buriton (NZ)-Ouch(Kaaptive Edition (NZ)) FOALED :13/11/03

    August 4, 2008

  • Isn't Bindi the daughter of the late crocodile-wrestling guy?

    August 4, 2008

  • Yes, Bindi Irwin, now being hopelessly exploited by the Irwin industry.

    There's a native grass known as bindi. It has a very nasty burred seed called a bindi-eye. That's why I thought the racehorse name was kinda funny, given the sire was Ouch. A bindi-eye is fierce enough to puncture a bicycle tyre; plenty of deflated experience there :-(

    August 4, 2008

  • I don't think she's being exploited per se...

    August 4, 2008

  • I can't see how a child under 10, recently bereaved of parent, can give meaningful consent to have her likeness used for a mass-marketed talking doll.

    August 4, 2008

  • She's totally being exploited. It makes me sick.

    August 5, 2008

  • There was a craze for bindi-spots when I was a teen. All the cool kids had one. Felt tip, natch.

    August 5, 2008

  • I believe she is being specifically exploited by her mother (who, I have heard, is also looking to convert steve-o's animal conservation centers into theme parks)

    May 24, 2009